ShopRite

ShopRite Supermarkets is a retailers' cooperative (co-op) chain of supermarkets in the North-Eastern United States, with stores in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. The ShopRite includes cooperative includes nearly 50 individually owner operated affiliates with 250 stores, all under its corporate and distribution arm, the Wakefern Food Corporation. Wakefern itself owns and operates 30 of the locations through subsidiary ShopRite Supermarkets, and is the largest affiliate in the cooperative.The ShopRite co-operative began in 1946, when independent New Jersey grocers came upon a system of joining forces to get keener wholesale prices for larger bulk quantities.Seven of the grocers agreed to scheme and each paid $1,000 to launch Wakefern Foods.The businesses all traded under their own names, but in 1951 they came to the conclusion that an even more competitive edge would be gained by all trading under a new name.ShopRite was born, and today, ShopRite is the largest retailer owned cooperative in the US.